Lockheed SMSS Selected for Afghanistan Deployment
The US Army rapid equipping force has selected the Lockheed Martin squad mission support system (SMSS) for deployment to Afghanistan. The 11ft-long SMSS is the largest autonomous vehicle to be deployed with infantry, under the US Army's Project Workhorse unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) comp
The US Army rapid equipping force has selected the Lockheed Martin squad mission support system (SMSS) for deployment to Afghanistan.
The 11ft-long SMSS is the largest autonomous vehicle to be deployed with infantry, under the US Army's Project Workhorse unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) competition.
The SMSS block I variant to be deployed can carry more than 0.5t of a squad equipment on rugged terrain, and features three control options; supervised autonomy, tele-operation or manually driven.
The SMSS sensor suite allows it to lock on and follow any person by recognising their digital 3D profile and can also navigate terrain autonomously following a trail of GPS waypoints.
The system will undergo further evaluation to demonstrate its ability to field a reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition mission equipment package in November this year.
The US Army has plans to begin the Afghanistan assessment later this year after a period of evaluations and training.